American swimming icon Michael Phelps will enter into his first day of eight-gold haul at the Beijing Olympics on Sunday, along with the world's elite swimmers chasing after medals at the first day of finals.
Four swimming finals are scheduled on Sunday morning: men's 400-meter individual medley and 400m freestyle, and women's 400m individual medley and 4X100m freestyle.
In the 400m individual medley, Phelps secured a center lane by downing his own Olympic record at 4:07.82. The 23-year-old has more chances of winning the event than any others as the defending Olympic champion, current world champion and world record holder.
He set the world record at 4:05.25 at the US Olympic Team Trials in Omaha, Nebraska in July. But the most-hyped race will at least a two-way battle between him and teammate Ryan Lochte, who placed 4th in the heats. Hungarian Laszlo Cseh, who ranks second in the heats, also has a shot for the top three places.
The men's 400m freestyle will be a face-off between a 19-year-old South Korean swimmer Park Taehwan, whose only hope is to win the event's gold medal, and others who hold his ambition in disbelief. With Australian towering captain Grant Hackett and American Larsen Jensen, the challenges are multi-fold.
In women's 400m individual medley, American "female Phelps" Katie Hoff, the current world record holder and reigning world champion, will also have to fight to retain her dominance.
The 19-year-old lowered the event's world record in June at 4.31.12, about 0.34 seconds off from a previous one set in March by Australian medley specialist Stephanie Rice.
Hoff entered the final as the second after Elizabeth Beisel, a fellow American, and Rice was the fourth.
"It hasn't really ever been me and Katie, it's just been Katie, with me and Beisel coming in. So it serves for a really good race," said Rice.
Chinese women squad topped the 4X100m freestyle relay heats with a new Asian record of 3:36.78, but the final showdown will be between world record holder Netherlands and the US.
Also scheduled on Sunday are the women's 100m butterfly and men's 100m breaststroke semifinals.
(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2008)